oproleplayingfandomcom-20200214-history
Time Never Mattered
Light and Time "You spill the blood of my comrades all because you are a bit angry?" The Marine asked as he looked down on the battlefield to the bloody corpses of the many fallen Marines. "That's not the way to go about it. Grab your men and leave Hafler, boy." He suggested, "And if you do, I will turn my back for the sake of saving the lives of the Marines that can still be saved." A man of dark skin and a bald head looked across the blood pit and shook his head. "Henson P. Clyde, you're here... Then that means someone else will be here shortly." The man cracked his knuckles without the aid of his other hand. He looked to his fallen men as well, "That's not how this is gonna go, Clyde." "Where did this world go wrong, Locks?" Clyde questioned the pirate before him, "The history of this world just seems to keep going in a circle." Locks took a step forward, "You wanna talk? I want to avenge my fallen comrades and end this." Clyde sighed, "I would have preferred not to leak more blood on this battlefield." He held his hand up at his Marine platoon behind him. "Refrain from getting involved. There is no need to have your blood spilled any further, I will handle him on my own. Focus on gathering the wounded and taking them far away from here." He turned back to face Locks. "Even at the end of our battle, I hope you can understand me as a believer of Lawful Justice." The Marine's body broke down into fragments of light, before reappearing directly in front of Locks. His finger had already been lifted up and aimed at Locks' chest, which he then generated a beam of light. "Maybe you'll rethink everything with a second chance." He uttered, firing off his light-based attack at Locks. Though, just a moment before it could make contact with Locks, the ten-foot man disappeared before Clyde's very eyes where the beam would travel across the empty path before colliding with the sea causing it to erupt into an explosion. Locks stood a great distance away, his arms folded across his chest as he allowed the wind from the resulting explosion to lift his captain's jacket into the air. "This ain't gonna be easy like other fights, Clyde. You're gonna have to work for this kill!" Reaching underneath his coat, Locks drew a sword tucked into the confinements of its sheathe. The sheathe itself was charcoal black with the tip of it a white-gray. The crossguard was also this whitish-grey tone, shaped like a four-leafed flower. The hilt was the same color as the sheathe itself, but along its grip, it possessed the pattern of clocks. Smirking, the Vice-Admiral allowed his eyes to soak up the appearance of the blade. This was not the first time he had traded blows with Locks, yet it was the first time he had seen the man draw the blade. He had heard tales of what Locks had done with it in the past. "The blade that cut an island in half and placed it back together. Cut a hole into a boar, then reverted the strike. Must the most unbelievable of them all, drank an entire lake dry of its water." Clyde went on an on about the things the blade had done and he couldn't help but find himself rambling on. "You've had that blade since birth, or so they say. Nochi Kachikage-the blade that leaves a shadow with time." "You know, for someone with the ability of the Pika Pika no Mi, which grants the ability to move at the speed of light you sure do talk a lot." Locks said, pulling the blade from its sheath then placing it to his back. "Do you think I'm from Wano Country? That's Ringo's tradition." Turning the blade at an angle, he showed the black blade of Nochi Kachikage. "I made 'im myself when I was nine years old." Swinging the blade forward, a black slash of what could be assumed to be compressed air imbued with his will traveled towards Clyde. As it ran across the ground, it ripped the earth apart and even sliced through the Marines that laid on the ground. Slicing through the fallen soldiers, their bodies would begin to turn into tried up husks of what they used to be. With a glimmer of light, Clyde shined and vanished reappearing out of the path of the slash, much like Locks had done before. "Then as a member of the Marins who has vowed to protect his world, I'll on face you as my opponent." Holding his hand out, light gathered and formed into a thick makeshift sword. Its existence was for the sole purpose of countering Locks' own blade. Vanishing in the flicker of light, he reappeared in front of Locks. Swinging his light blade at the Pirate, Locks had already accelerated his arm so that it would zip forward to meet Clyde's sword. At the immediate clashing of their blade, a shockwave formed blowing a gust of wind akin to that of a category one . Clyde slid across the ground, dirt gathering beneath his heels as he attempted to keep himself up. Though he was strong enough to not get knocked to his rear, his physical strength was not equal to Locks' own. With a simple head shake from both parties, the warriors vanished. Clyde in the form of light and Locks in the form of teleportation. They met once again in mid-air, they blades clashed releasing yet another shockwave. Though this time the winds raged to the point that the sea began to roar. Vanishing, they met against on the ground with another clash. The earth underneath their feet crushed under the immense pressure and strength the duo gave off. Clyde leaped back but as he did, with his free hand, he fired off spheres of light from his hand aimed at Locks in an unorthodox barrage. Some blasts continued to travel towards Locks, while others simply fell short and crashed into the ground exploding just before they could reach the man. For those that did continue to seek Locks' demise, the pirate simply jumped around through his teleportation or high-speed movement techniques, dodging each of the blasts as if they were too slow. Yet, the question of how could they be too slight when theoretically there was nothing faster than light itself. Quickly, Clyde came to a realization as he sent off another barrage of blasts to create a moment for his thoughts. "I knew they said he had been adequate with his devil fruit, but to think he could use it to this level." Clyde thought to himself, as he watched Locks jump around and even sometimes deflect his light blasts with his sword. "Taku Taku no Mi, a devil fruit that grants the user the ability to manipulate time... to an extent. I've studied all of the summaries of your battles and they want to say you're worth "At Least" 500,000,000." The vice-admiral continued to shoot beams of light at Locks, "But none of them gave me a clear description of what it is your fruit can do." "I've got you!" A marine shouted, holding his rapier up over Locks' head, who he'd surprisingly been much taller than. Imbuing his blade with haki, the Marine sought out to slice Locks cleanly in half. "Die!" Clyde himself had been lost in his own train of thoughts and missed his comrade acting against orders. With eyes widened at the shouting of his comrade, before responding with his own yell. "No, Captain Oran! GET OUT OF THERE!" Slashing downward, Oran's blade—Mizukire—began to cleave right through Locks. "I told you I'd get him!" An early celebration, a bit too early, because before the blade could fully pass through Locks, he vanished behind the Marine. However, unlike the Marine who took a moment to hesitate, Locks did not. "Skip Lag—Shredder", he uttered. Slicing through the Marine captain with an array of slashes that seemed to have skipped into the future before leaving nothing but shreds of Oran's body laying on the ground before him. His blood splat across his black steel-toe boots. "This is what you wanted to see?" Locks said, watching as his Clyde stood stuck. He was frozen in shock, but his body quivered. "You stand and quiver but not with fear, right? But because your comrade was killed right before your eyes! What do you want? Revenge? YOU WANT REVENGE? GOOD BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT I WANT!" The Pirate screamed, holding his arms out at all of his fallen men. "Look, you have plenty more still standing! I don't! Not a single one of my men are standing. All of them lay in a puddle of their own blood, but do you see me standing here disappointed and distraught? No! Those who cause harm to my little brothers will pay in blood and I will bet my life on that." Flashing to reality, Clyde smacked himself. "Even with all of that, Chronos, I still think you could be saved. Luckily," Clyde said, briefly closing his eyes. "I am the one who will be able to give you that saving!" With the combination of both Soru and his light movement abilities, Clyde closed the gap between himself and Locks in the blink of an eye. While he traveled towards Locks, he fired off more of his light beams, though just as he suspected, Locks deflected them off of his black blade. "Saijo O Wazamono are the most revered of the Meito, I didn't think the gap between two Meito could be so wide!" He claimed, clashing against Locks' sword with his light sword once again. The duo clashed for a total of thirty seconds. Both swinging their blades in angles to try and grab the upper hand against another, their Kenbunshoku Haki aided in allowing them to follow each others movements. Their clashing had gotten too intense that they began to sink into the ground, their feets planting themselves into the earth as though they were roots waiting to be grown. "Locks is the superior swordsman in this situation, I can't hope to beat him sword to sword." Lifting his finger he shot off two beams of light in the midst of the continuous clashing. Both beams ripped through Clyde's right shoulder, leaving two side-by-side holes. Locks jumped back. With his advanced usage of kenbunshoku haki, he could see into the future where he learned that if he had remained there, Clyde would send more light beams. Blood spat from the two wounds, soaking the majority of his right side. "Those weren't regular light shots, once they penetrate the skin the burst and explode, and compress back into a beam as reach the outside." "Shit, using kenbunshoku haki and the Taku at the same time, force me to think a bit more and stuff like that slips my mind. Either that, or I'm getting low." Eyes drifting to the side, Locks found a pile of his men by his side. With Nochi Kachikage, the pirate captain stabbed into the men until they became dried up husks. Though, before he could remove his sword, seven more beams of light breached his space piercing through his body. "Laser Shot: Scatter", Clyde said as he created more holes in Locks' body. It all happened so fast. Truly, Clyde had used his devil fruit to its absolute maximum ability. Speed and power, he used both of those elements of the Pika Pika no Mi to stand over many of his former opponents. Even for Clyde, this battle had been longer than anything he'd ever had to do before. But the Vice-Admiral wasn't done yet. He still had more for his assault, he needed to assert his dominance and show Locks who had been in charge or in other words, who truly controlled this battle. With another flash of light, Clyde relocated himself to where Locks tried stationing to recollect himself. His Sword of Light'held high, Clyde used the flat end of the blade to smack the right side of Locks' face resulting in a grand explosion. Dust, debris, wind, and smoke filled the air, swallowing the duo before Clyde had finally jumped from the cloud while Locks remained within. Clyde's body had been clad in busoshoku haki up until he landed to the ground, where he deactivated it and gave off a few heavy pants. ''"It seems I'm starting to run low on stamina..." The Vice-Admiral said, "That battle against those pirates is starting to have its toll... That battle was well over 24 hours, I didn't think he'd show up though. I can't even keep both of my haki activ-" "GAH!" Clyde spat, blood escaping his mouth as he was cut off from his previous train of thought. He looked down to his chest. And in the spot where his heart sat, the black blade of a sword pierced right through. He looked out the corner of his eye and in his rearview, stood Locks and the blade that stabbed through his heart was Nochi Kachikage. "Busoshoku! But how did you...?" "It's because you know nothing," Locks began his shoulder, body, and right eye leaking with blood. "About the abilities of my devil fruit." Pushing the nodachi further into Clyde's heart, "My fruit grants me with the ability to decelerate, accelerate, lag, skip, stop, and finally reverse the flow of time. I had run out of time, but I took some from my men that you nearly killed." As Locks continued to speak, his wounds slowly began to heal, but the wound over his right eye left a scar. "With that, I can decelerate my wounds and heal them... to an extent of course." Removing his blade from Clyde's chest, kick allowed the Marine to fall over. "When I kill my opponents, I usually take from them. Out of respect for you, I will not do the same. But your life will be equal to those that you have slain here." Clyde's eyes slowly began to close as he took in the information that Locks gave him, "I knew it would only be a moment before... Tch, I can feel my life slowly fading." Smiling, images of a small dark-skinned green-haired girl, much like himself, flicked in his mind. "Taraji, be the change and just know... I love you..." Locks turned to the remaining Marines, "If any of you would like to continue on, remember the information that I just shared with your captain." He placed Nochi Kachikage over his shoulder before a white aura exerted from his body. "If you want to hate me, that's fine! Detest me, curse me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run. Run and cling to your pitiful life. And once you possess the same power as me, come back and face me." Kneeling slightly, Locks lifted Mizukire with his bare hand. Looking to the Marines, and then back to the Meito in his grasp, Locks closed his hand and with a strong enough grip, shattered the blade into pieces before turning to the group and walking away. Lots of Time "It's been over twenty years..." A deep voice said, he sat within the quarters of his ship. Smoke left from his mouth as he exhaled on the two cigars resting in between his lips. The room was dark and as such, it made it difficult for his figure to be made out. "Imagine having to go into hiding." He continued on, by the look of things, there had been another person within the dark room whom he'd been speaking too. "Ugh," he grunted as he lifted himself up from the seat and opened the doors of the room while heading to the deck of the ship allowing his figure to bask in the sunlight. The one who had accompanied him in the room followed him onto the deck. "I'm dead right?" He asked "and it's been that way for quite some time, let's keep it like that... for now." He was Locks, except now with a new look and a few new scars. Instead of his original black dress shirt, he now wore a grey long v-neck which he scrunched up the sleeves so that they did not cover his entire forearm. He kept his captain's coat, but its color scheme had been much different from in the past. The majority of the coat was a dark-blueish black, red shoulder pads, and gold trimming. His pants and boots were still black, but his hair had seemly grown to a high with a fade on the sides. His shirt had a holder for cigars, while his chest itself had become much bigger and in return, more scarred. Locks had a new scar coming up from his stomach, a large one coming from the left side of his chest and another coming out from his neck. Whatever it was that kept him in hiding all these years, had to have been monstrous. Hell, his overall appearance was much younger than what he truly was. "Out of everyone, I had to be the one to hide? Balloon-Body Argyle and Rock-Head Ass Vince are still alive... but Wicked Seth and Beasty Stalkman passed on." Locks' crimson gaze looked across the sea as his mind wandered down memory lane. "Michael D. Shiguma," he couldn't help but bring this man's name up in his reminiscing. "Didn't think that brat would be the one to steal the spotlight from underneath Vince." "And now that little punk what's to start a war?" Locks chuckled, "Boy what I'd do to crush that boy with my own hands." The pirate alongside Locks intervened, "Uh, Captain Loxs, I think we should continue to wait before you get into anything. It would be very unfortunate to blow everything when you haven't fully recovered." "Fully recovered?" Loxs asked, "I took this form intentionally, what do you mean? This is the state of my prime! I'm pushing 90 years, that damn Vincenzo is pushing 95. That old bastard is still kicking and fighting, I'll be damned if I let him out fight me!" "Then, what would you like to do?" The Pirate asked, ready to for the orders Loxs would give him. There was a short silence before Loxs crossed his arms over his chest. "Hm, I need to know the status of the others. Where are they, how are they, and why are they. I need all three of those questions answered." Rubbing his chest, Loxs sat down onto the deck of the ship. "If you need priorities, find the '''Catastrophic Triad first. I know they aren't dead!" With his lit cigars, Loxs pulled it out from his mouth and looked at it questionably. "Guide the ship to Mount Olympus," he began, placing the cigar into his mouth. "We can start and supply ourselves there. It's where I docked Mother Gaia after all. Its uncharted territory and I'm sure there ain't been a single Marine to find it." "C-Captain," The pirate said, shaking slightly as he just knew his next chain of words would not come with the reaction he would like. "I've been meaning to tell you.. Mount Olympus h-has, it's been conquered by another Pirate more recently actually." As though his words were an actual activation for a mood change, Loxs burrowed his brows and frown to the point veins trace along his forehead. "Who?! How? Gah, who the hell managed to actually navigate through the Black Sea?" Loxs resting his chin onto the palm of his hand, and tapped the side of his head with his other finger. "That's actually blowing my mind as I try to fathom who and how. Come on, Brady, I know you know." Shaking his head, Brady pulled the clipboard closer to his face and flipped one of the sheets over. "Uh, a rookie pirate. His name is Bryant D. Kobe." Loxs tapped his head harder, "Damn!" He said, frowning even further. "A rookie pirate navigated through the Black Sea. I just can't wrap my head around that. It's the D. It's gotta be that damn D." Brady cleared his throat, "Maybe this will help you understand, Captain." He then slid his finger down the paper, "Apparently, he's being called the "Great Navigator in the World". Are we to still prepare for Olympus, captain?" The brown-skinned man sighed and looked up at the sky. "Shit. Damn, Imma need Mother Gaia if I want to sail into the New World with no problem." Loxs reached into his pocket and fiddle around until finally pulled out a silver cylinder. It had an emblem inscribed on his top, though before a good look at it could be made, he pressed on it with his big and opened it. It had three hands, the smallest thing one ticking with each passing second. This was his pocket watch. He gave a slight grin as he looked at the other two hands, as they both pointed downward. "6:30 is the best time, hands down." "I'm sorry, captain. I'm unsure what you mean of what your orders are." Brady responded. "Oh, I'm sorry, Brady. It's just I'm runnin' low on time you see. And I know that she would help get me a bit more." Loxs scoffed, "Head north, Brady. We need to head to Hearthome. I know for a fact that's where Ba-" Just as Loxs had prepared to say the name, the ship the duo rode on rocked, before an explosion at its side set off. He could hear someone shouting, "Fire!" in the distance, but the voice was unfamiliar. Standing back to his feet, Loxs looked to the direction of the path the explosion came from. His red eyes fell onto the four Marine ships spread in front of his own. They had no true formation and instead of surrounding them from each of the four cardinal directions, all four of the ships sat side by side one another. "An inexperienced bunch," Loxs teased, lifting his hand up as three cannonballs made their way towards the ship. "NO CAPTAIN!" Brady shouted, lifting his hand up at Loxs. "You can't fight just yet! I don't believe you are in a state to do so!" "I know, Brady, I know. Stop callin' me old, kid. You grew up to be a worrisome Cabin Boy. You should've tried taking a direct approach, like that brat Scales Douglas Ford and tried doing stuff for yourself. Being a Cabin Boy doesn't mean you stay in the cabin its just an apprentice." Holding both of his hands up at the moment before the cannonballs would make contact with the ship, three spheres appeared with the numbers floating around them, encasing the three cannonballs and holding and essentially stopping them in place. --- "What in the-how is that even possible" Myobu stated in amazement while watching the cannonballs literally freeze mid-air. "Watch yourselves men!!" he called out to his subordinates from his place at the ship's helm while his subordinates scurry around to get into positions for a counter strike. "We're not dealing with your run of the mill pirates here," he called using a den den mushi to relay the news to the other ships having witnessed a unique phenomenom. "All ships prepare to fire again, he can't stop all the cannonballs at once!!!" he ordered then dropped the Den Den Mushi. "But Captain Myobu Sir!!, our orders were to observe until backup arrived" cried out a Marine Soldier as he nervously fidgeted having been frigthend by the canonballs simply freezing and hoovering midair. "Do you really think they will sit by idle and wair peacefully after we indicated the first move?" Myobu questioned the soldier giving him a blank stare and before the soldier could answer he continued. "Return to your station and prepare to fire again", he ordered and dismissed the soldier. While on the outside he appeared nonchalant and aloof, deep inside his mind was working overtime to try and minimize the casualties that were to surely come. Once everyone was in place Myobu moved to the front of the ship and picking up the dropped Den Den Mushi. "Alright Pirates we have you surrounded just make this easy and surrounder peacefully or we will sink you right here and now!!" he called out towards the ship's captain as all the Marine ships aimed their canons towards the Pirate ship and awaited the signal to fire. Loxs looked to Brady one last time, "Trust in your Captain, I cheated death after all." And with that sentence and no further sounds, Loxs vanished into thin air, his presence completely disappearing from the deck of the ship into nothingness. While it may have seemed like it was in the blink of an eye, Brady had just not been able to watch him with his eyes. He wasn't a fighter, a strategist and man who relied heavily on information instead. Even though he couldn't follow his former captain, Brady trusted in him. "I know you can do it, that's why I don't want you to." Then Loxs had appeared onto the main vessel of the mini fleet. He looked down at the rest of the Marines, his eleven-foot burley figure shadowing each and every Marine present. He tried to see if his eye caught any Marines he had been familiar with in the past, but he knew none of these men. He could only assume they were new recruits during his time of "death". With his hands still up, he held the cannonballs in his sphere and allowing his presence to rest onto the ship for a moment. Then finally, he found the man who commanded the ship. It was the one with raven hair, his demeanor had "I want to be leader" written all over it. With the snap of his fingers, two more spheres like the ones holding the cannonballs appeared, though this time, they appeared around two of the Marine ships, more specifically the ones that were on this ship's left and right. A light blueish tint covered his body like a cloak. "Sink us?" Loxs asked, lifting his hands higher, gesturing Myobu to look at what he was holding. "With these? I've been meaning to give them back." With a mental command, the spheres around the cannonballs disappeared "Chronostasis"," he uttered as the cannonballs dropped onto the ship while he rose into the air from their explosion range. Then, BOOM, it exploded engulfing the entire ship. When Loxs seeimgly appeared on the ship from thin air Myobu barely had time to even blink especially when he show cased the canonballs that were floating above. As he actually blinked and moved to open his mouth the Pirate motioned for the canonballs drop and as it came into contact with the ship a loud explosion ripped througth the sea and showered wood, water and metal all over the imediate area. As the smoke from the explosion began to clear out as the sea wind blew througth, a Large oak tree that was out of place was seen sprouting from the various scattered wood and combineing to form the tree. within the Trees large branches tucked safley away under it's tick branches was Myobu with his arms clasped tightly as beads of sweat dripped down his face. Glancing around he let out a breath od relief when he noticed that he managed to save all his subordinates from the explosion. Glearing up towards the floating Pirate he gripped his fingers tigther before pointing his dual index fingers towards the floating pirate, as if it was alive large tendrils of wood shot towards the pirate with the intention of skwering him. Eyes widening, Loxs activated his kenbunshoku haki. This was a measure so that he could see and determine the movements of his opponents while within the cloud of smoke, in efforts to protect himself from any sly tricks his opponent had set up. After all, his devil fruit prowess hadn't been fully restored yet so, for now, he had to rely on outside tactics. Time slowed down around at the change in Myobu's movements. It went from being in full speed where the tendrils were launched at him, to now moving frame by frame. Skip Lag—Frame was the technique responsible for the slowness of the tendrils. His Kenbunshoku had been enough for him to slow down time for a just a tenth of a second, but Frame allowed him to literally force something within his specific range to move at a pace as though it were by each frame. With a grin, Loxs clad his right fist in busoshoku haki as he just watched the tendrils approach him slowly. They'd reach him... one day. "I'm sorry I couldn't go full power, Marine. I'm kinda... short on time." Disappearing, Loxs moved from his current position in time, to behind Myobu where he stood over the Marine and sent his busoshoku clad fist directly at Loxs' back. He thought that with such a sudden placement, he would surely catch his opponent off guard. A heartbeat that is exactly how quick everything seemed to move in Myobu’s perspective. Loxs was just in front of his vision ready to be skewered by his tendrils yet in the same amount of time it took for him to blink all 1.5 nano second Loxs had vanish. It was only thanks to his training and Haki that he was able to pick up on his presence appearing behind him that Myobu was able to bring up a semblance of defense. Even though he wouldn’t be able to properly block the on coming attack seeing that if he unclamped his hands then the tree would crumble having been made from dead wood it need a constant stream to stay alive. If it fell so would his subordinates and that was something he couldn’t afford as quick as Lox struck a thick "wall" of bark covered the back of Myobu giving him a bit more protection. "Tch, this is will hurt", was the thought that echoed through this head as Lox’s had struck home, shattering the bark guard and catapulting him from the tree towards the sea. Before he could hit the sea another branch managed to snake around his ankle this holding him upwards and clear from the sea. Winding in pain and spitting up a small bit of blood, Myobu managed to glance towards Lox. Gritting his teeth and cursing for being stupid and careless he once again repeated his previous action as multiple tendrils launches towards Loxs but this time they were double the amount and speed since Lox stood in the "heart" of the oak tree. "Four Directional Prison", Myobu shouted as his attack rocketed towards Lox, having put most of his remaining strength in this attack he prayed it would hit it at least but him enough time to safely move his subordinates towards the Marine Backup that was near by. A pair of ships arrived on the scene sometime during the ferocious clash between Myobu and Loxs. Amongst one of these ships was Schmitty. The Marine Commodore rubbed his neck momentarily, looking at the deadly battle going on between the two titanic figures. "Men, stand back!" Schmitty shouted, still rubbing, pondering his defeat from a year ago. "I wonder, who's fire will die first..." His gaze fixated on the clash between Myobu and Loxs. Loxs' body highlighted a faint blue aura once again, another signification that he had stolen more time. While Myobu launched his next attack, he would notice begin to notice that his back would not be able to hold up and support him in that way it did once before. Rather than being enough to hold up his frame, it would shrivel like a dried husk causing him to either fall forward or backward. This was Loxs' devil fruit at work once again, stealing the time from others allowing him to save it and use it at moments he saw fit. Stealing time worked in many ways, but his most used, was stealing from his opponent's limb by limb to spare him for usage later. Cladding both arms in a full layer of haki, Loxs crossed them to take on the incoming attack. Once they got within his area of acting, he deflected them, gritting his teeth in the bit of pain from the attack's impact. Dropping his arms, Loxs snapped his fingers and the two spheres covering the other two Marine ships vanished and he light up again. Everyone on those two ships had become complete husks, while they were not dead yet per say, they had been on the verge of drying out clinging for not only air but their lives entirely. His sharp ears twitched, Loxs had picked up on the newcomer to the show. "Reaching into his jacket, Loxs pulled out his pocket watch once again. "I have a little time." Narrowing his eyes and using a bit of he noted that the life on other marine vessels sudden became hallow and shriveled almost as if they were dehydrated, deciding to put it out his mind for now he willed the tree tendril to place him down along another tendril that stretched along the base of the previous one. "Just who are yo-", Myobu began to say but was cut off as his feet landed on the ground before his entire lower half crumbled like paper, his legs being unable to directly support him and a numb feeling suddenly over came his back and legs. "W-what!!!??" He cries out in alarm as he desperately attempted to move his legs. "What did you do to me!!!" He shouted at Lox after realizing that this monstrosity of a Pirate had done something to him without him realizing, Just what was his devil fruit abilities, just who was he. These were questions burning him his mind as he struggled. Loxs dropped himself to the ship, extending his hand over the rest of the Marines to create another sphere where he would activate it and dry those all around him into husks. Floating over the sea, he made his way towards the falling Myobu. Before the man could fall into the sea, Loxs grabbed him by his face and held the man's small face inside the palm of his hand. His grip had been in a certain way so that he could look into the eyes of Myobu, he was a man after all. Even if Loxs sought to take his life, he would do so treating Myobu like a man. "How, why, who?" Loxs asked, "These are your questions. But see, I ain't got the most time in the world, so I'll be quick." Squeezing his haki infused hand tighter, Loxs continued on. "I can steal time from my enemies." He said, body lightning blue as he had begun to drain Myobu. "You're an old guy, 120 years?" Scoffing, the pirate drained Myobu further. "I'll take 115 of that," Loxs said, watching as Myobu continued to dry up. It was true, Loxs had been stealing Myobu's time as far as years go, but it was more in-depth than that. What the man had also been taking by extension, was Myobu's trained years of his haki and devil fruit ability taking him to the point of when the man was a five-year-old fletching, still trying to understand the world. His reflexive abilities to utilize his devil fruit to create another one of those fancy branches to keep him from falling into the water would be no more. "Wrong time, wrong place." He ended, releasing the man from his grip and dropping him into the sea below. As Myobu would fall, Loxs turned back around. "You'll live... if you remember to even swim." He mused, waiting for actions from the newcoming ship. "It was a boost, but still I am short on time." As he attempted to struggle, to fight the crawling darkness that was slowly creeping upon his vision, Myobu finally understood why after all this time, after all the years of training, all his life and death battles, why he felt so weak. All this time he thought it was his age finally catching up and beating the eternal pill but it was far from that, when had this Pirate began stealing his time, his strength. How had he not noticed it, he said he’s been doing it for years then all his work was for nothing but a prize for someone else to snatch. With blurry eyes he tried to catch a good look at the Pirate, tried to see exactly who this man with such a monstrous ability was. Realizing that he could barely even do that and knowing full well that this was his end this was his death he began to reflect on his life and despite how it ended he was proud he lived and followed his virtues. Now it was time to rest and perhaps he’ll finally see the people he left behind all those years ago. As his body hit the water and quickly began to submerge he could only close his eyes and smile. Schmitty watched every moment play out. He couldn't help but wrench, even if slightly, as Myobu hit the water wish a splash. His eyes closed momentarily, placing a hand on his heart as he did so. "What are you doing sir! We should save him!" One of Schmitty's crewmen shouted. "It pains me, but there is no use...Myobu will die even if you manage to fish him out of the sea." Schmitty spoke, his expression solemn in despair. He looked towards Loxs, this legendary and frightening figure of days past yet again appearing, wrecking havoc as he did so long ago. The crewman looked forward, in shock that Schmitty hadn't even tried. But anyone he knew Myobu, how determined he was to the service, wouldn't have plunged to his death unless he had no more energy to give to the world. From the moment before, Loxs had already pinpointed the location of the incoming Marines. His kenbunshoku haki had found itself heightening as he drained the time from Myōbu. With no actions needed, Loxs vanished from "floating" over the sea, to standing on the front railing of the Marine vessel that housed Schmitty. With the tips of his fingers, he slid them across each other and held them up to his face before drawing two cigars and placing them into his mouth. Scratching them together once again, a spark appeared small but strong enough to light the cigar. While it was neglected to be mentioned at first, Loxs accidentally dropped his previous ones on the ship that Bradly had been steering right before his confrontation with Myōbu. "Are you back up, boy?" Loxs asked. Schmitty seemed to swat away at the air before him, the fumes from Loxs' cigars annoying the Marine. "You've got some balls, Loxs." Schmitty spoke. His posture remained strong, standing firm with his back straight. His hands remained behind his back, clasped together in a disciplined manner. "Smoking is hazardous to your body, I'd advise against it." Per his usual character, Schmitty also had health advise on the ready. His gaze remained fixed, his presence stern. "Boy?...No, I'm old enough to have seen you crawl around in your diapers. These bodies of mine simply reflect my youth of so long ago. Instead, I ask you, boy-" Schmitty spoke, unwavering. "Why didn't you decide to remain dead?" Shaking his head left and right, Loxs swiped across in front of him. A blue aura following the swap as it blew past Schmitty's right arm. Had it managed to connect, Loxs would have successfully managed to remove all of the arms time and absorb it into himself. "One of those, aye?" Loxs question, straightening his back to look down over Schmitty and his crew. First, there was a rumble beneath the ship to where it would then begin to rock. A sphere appeared at Loxs side to which he snapped his fingers allowing it to pop. From within it, the withered body of Myōbu revealed slamming into the deck of the ship right before Schmitty's feet as though it were a package meant for delivery. "Death's a concept that comes with time. Your life span ends once that time is up. It don't matter if it's a natural cause or someone does it for you." Loxs coughed, "I've got lots of time now." “Time, too, is a concept.” Schmitty spoke. He allowed Loxs’ attack to sever his arm, the force was enough to send the arm flying several meters back, its time withering away with each inch. Until, at the end, it was a shriveled and rusted piece of metal, and would then fade to dust. ‘’Tick Tick’’. As blood leaked from where his arm used to be, Schmitty kept his gaze on Loxs, knowing what had to be done. “Lots of time, and with time comes death...” Schmitty nodded, understanding a symbolism he had created within himself. “What will you do with that time?” ‘’Tick Tick’’. Schmitty questioned, itching closer to Loxs. With the snap of his fingers, Schmitty would come to a complete halt. Though, this was simply not the case for just Schmitty but his fleet as a whole. There was no sound within the area, even the engine of the ship was quiet in the wake of Loxs' snap. "Well, I can tell you I don't have to be wasteful with it." Loxs teased, rubbing dust from his shoulders hunching them just before turning his back to Schmitty and his men. "The World as you know it is about to flip, Marine. The Gods won't be able to hold shit under their thumbs much longer." Jumping from the ship, he levitating once again flying over to his own ship landing onto the deck. "Everything around you has stopped, but I think you can still hear." Loxs closed one of his eyes, "You gotta excuse me, it has been about a decade or two since I've used my power. Forgot how it works." Placing his hand onto Brady's head, he pointed forward. "Onward Brady! If I can not get Mother Gaia, then we seek out to get the Queen Anne and I know just where she is!" Time Used Well From the time Loxs had met with the Marines, he'd been traveling for a total of sevens. News traveled fast about his re-rise, yet he managed to keep a rather low profile. His intention wasn't to make a big spill of the situation, not right now at least. He may have been in a state to where he could fight, but he was far from being at full power and where he wanted to be. There was something else he needed in order to reach that level of satisfaction and it was the need to cure his loneliness. "Brady," Loxs began as he looked over the hull of their ship to the upcoming island. "I can get off here and you can go on with your business. Life from here on out ain't gonna be so pretty. Once I gather those six, everything is gonna flip." Loxs entire point of constantly trying to push away Brady was not for his own selfish matter. In fact, his reasoning for it was the safety of his crewmate but no matter how hard he tried, or what he said, Brady did not budge one bit. "Yeah, I know Captain!" Brady claimed, "But I owe this to you. You don't have to keep treating me as an apprentice." Sighing, Brady rubbed his hairless chin. "I dunno', maybe an actual member of the crew?" "Ticktockahahahahaha!" Loxs laughed, placing his giant hand onto Brady's head. "A full-fledged member huh? Yeah, you're old enough. I could buy it, but she probably won't." Eyes rolling, the former apprentice stepped back. "Wait," Brady began, shaking as he looked to his captain. "You mean to tell me that's who we're here for? L-Lady Sandaconda?" "Oh no!!!" Loxs laugh further, "I mean, I am looking for her. But I know she ain't here. You'll have a little minute before you have to face her. Or she might be dead never know. We are here to seek out the Queen Anne and my babe." Fixing his composure, Brady rolled his eyes and sighed once more. "You shouldn't play around like that Captain. Lady Sandaconda is no joke." The ship halted as it reached the dock and an older man walked from behind the helm. "We've arrived, sir!" The man shouted, waving his hand around. "Fontell Kingdom! I'll lower the anchor so that you and Mr. Brady can set off to investigate the island. "What th-?!" Loxs asked, picking up a sensation like no other. Seated atop a castle like structure and ironically in front of a large clock which began to fluctuate randomly between times, watching as the ship drew closer to the kingdom with narrowed eyes Baltazar Lafayette silently pondered for a moment as his eyes glanced up to the once clear sky currently filling with dark storm coulda with flashing lighting and roaring thunder. Standing up he vanished in a flash of lightening and boom of thunder before appearing casually on top of the ships figure head as bolts of lightening began raining down all around the ship, striking the sides and burning the sails, Setting them on fire. "Wha' business do ye 'ave here!" Lafayette questioned in his gruff accent leveling a harsh glare upon the ships crew. The raging sounds of thunder banged his eardrums. A glimmer of blue lightning was all he needed before his eyes dilated and a flash of the thunder's intended target became evident well before it had even happened. Through his advanced use of Kenbunshoku Haki he peeked into the future to follow the surprising attack pinpointing its exact locations of striking. Placing his hand onto the railing of the ship, the black armor from his hands spread across the ship at an eye-blinking speed. One minute it was composed of its wooden makeup and in the next second, it was covered in Loxs' tremendous busoshoku haki. Like a caw, a repulsive burst pushed off of the ship against the strikes of lightning bouncing them back up into the sky. "Show yourself." Watching as the lightning struck and was repelled from the now heavily coated ship in interest before narrowing his Lafayette stepped from his current spot out into the line of sight of Loxs. "Judgin' by yer usage o' Haki ye aren't th' typical Pirate". he casually stated to the captain glancing around at everyone on the ship. "But imma ask once more, Wha' business do ye 'ave here!" As the man's appearance came whole, Loxs leaned up against the railing before reaching into his coat and drawing two cigars and lighting them both on fire. With a soft chuckle, Loxs became more relaxed as he seemed to have a bit more information than he had chosen to share at the moment. "Well damn." Loxs began, laughing more. "Either you've grown senile over there years or I just look that damn good." He joking sad, blowing a cloud of smoke over the ship. "Ticktockakakakaka, Lafayette." He said, pointing at himself, swiping his hands up and down trying to get the man to get a better look at who he was. However, after a few seconds, he understood that there was no way the man would recognize him. Removing the two cigars, he tapped them against the railing to remove the ashes. "Come on Jupiter ya' gonna make me cry if you can't remember who I am." Blinking wildly at the name that he was called Lafayette narrowed his eyes as he stated the man down. Knowing full well that only a very select few of people knew that name he carefully began to look over the man this time making sure to take in every single detail of him. Ever so slowly he began to feel his blood freeze in both shock and burn in excitement as the longer he stated at the man the more a sense of recognition began to burst onto his face. With a shaky breath and trembling hand, Lafayette pointed at the person in nothing but pure disbelief as any one would of someone you thought was dead suddenly reappeared looking vastly younger than you remember. "No farrgin' way ye canâ€™t possibly be!!! He muttered before hesitating. "Cap’n Loxs!!!?" Grinning, Loxs placed his cigars back into his mouth. "Ya' damn right, boy." Loxs said, his smiled as wide as the sea that traveled on. It had been decades since Loxs last saw Lafayette and vice-versa. He was man, but for some reason, this moment made him mushy and sentimental as he just couldn't get rid of his smile. Even then, there was something rather off about his former crewmate. "When did you gain the ability to manipulate lightning?" Shaking off the disbelief of his once thought to be deceased Captain standing before him. Lafayette burst out in joyous laughter. "Gororororo, Itâ€™s great t' see ye again Cap’n we all thought ye were dead". Lafayette claimed as his laughter died down with joy still present on his face. "As fer me controllin' lightenin', sometimes aft yer disappearance I found 'n ate th' Goro Goro no Mi." He answered while raising his hand and transforming it into pure electricity. "Itâ€™s a real helpful ability t' 'ave." "I see," Loxs said, relaxing his muscles as he released a cloud of smoke. "Its good to know that you didn't get killed or just kick the bucket. Over the years, I read the papers and noticed that were lost quite a few mates and allies to the Marines." Lifting his wrist, Loxs peaked at his watch. "Ah, it seems time waits for no one. Not even if you have the ability to control it slightly." Nodding, he tucked his hands into his trousers. "Goro, eh? Very powerful devil fruit... What about the status of the others? The other two of the Triad and the rest of the Romanian Officers?" Pulling out a cigar of his own Lafayette used his fruit ability to lit it up before taking a long drag before looking to his captain with a slightly finished look. "Most o' them scattered into th' wind followin' yer disappearance." Looking out towards the sea for a bit he took another drag of his cigar. "Th' last says I o' th' other Triad embers was roughly around two years ago when they helped me subdue a Marine battalion." inhaling a large portion of the cigar before blowing the smoke into the air with a distracted look. "As fer th' Romanian Officers, I haven't heard much but rumors o' them, hell I tried lookin' from them t' reestablish th' crew but they seemed t' be well hidden or possibly dead." Glancing at Lox in thought he threw away the cigar butt and straigthed his posture. "If they be alive they'd prolly reappear now that ye 'ave resurfaced, although that depends on yer plans." "Yeah, I got something." Category:Role-Plays Category:Jakyou